Los Angeles City Council candidates John Lee and Loraine Lundquist will face each other in a runoff election in August for the northwest San Fernando Valley seat after voters gave the two top spots at the ballot box on Tuesday.

Final returns showed Lee winning by just 50 votes — 6,195 to Lundquist’s 6,145, according to the Los Angeles County Registrar’s Office. That was after the two switched places in a furious comeback just after midnight by Lundquist that had her winning, before the tally went back in Lee’s favor with all precincts reporting.

Because no candidate among the 15 running and the one write-in hopeful for the seat received more than 50 percent of the vote, the two top finalists head to a runoff on Aug. 13.

“I’m so thankful to this community that they have always been there for me, and I hope I’ll always there be there for them,” Lee said over the phone. “But this is just the first step, and we have a lot more work to do. I’m obviously excited to take this next step.”

Lundquist, a Cal State Northridge sustainability instructor, said earlier Tuesday night she was with her team watching the election results at her Chatsworth campaign office, adding that “it feels good” and “we’re waiting to see what happens.”

Lee was followed by Scott Abrams, district director to U.S. Rep. Brad Sherman (4,024 votes); Jay Beeber, executive director of Safer Streets L.A. (2,953), Frank Ferry, an attorney who served on the Santa Clarita City Council (2,862) and Charles Sean Dinse, a senior lead officer for the Los Angeles Police Department (2,485).

No other candidate had more than 10% in the race for the northwestern San Fernando Valley seat.

Lee was chief legislative deputy to Councilman Greig Smith, who has returned to the council to fill the seat on an interim basis. His campaign focused on public service and his immigrant roots. Lundquist has a doctorate in physics. Her main issues include transitioning Los Angeles to cleaner energy, addressing homelessness and improving city services. Abrams was a senior aide to Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Sherman Oaks, serving as the director of his Valley constituent service office. He identified his primary issues like housing, traffic reduction, safety and quality of service. To address homelessness, Abrams said he wants to fight for increased federal funding to tackle the problem.

Whoever wins will take over from former Councilman Mitchell Englander, who stepped down last year to take a job with a sports and entertainment firm. Since Englander’s announcement, 15 candidates emerged. The winner will serve out the rest of Englander’s term, which ends in December of 2020.

Councilman Smith was appointed to fill his shoes in the district that includes Chatsworth, Northridge, Porter Ranch, Granada Hills, North Hills, West Hills and parts of Reseda.

The crowded pool of candidates is comprised of a diverse field that includes a former janitor, LAPD officer, commissioner and astrophysicist.

A winner will need to deal with an array of issues, including crime, street repairs, development, street racing, lack of affordable housing and homelessness.

They will also need to work with county and state officials to determine the fate of the Aliso Canyon underground natural gas storage facility, which became the site of the largest gas leak in U.S. history. Its neighbors are still grappling with the aftermath of the 2015 gas leak that emitted tons of methane and toxins near residents’ homes, displacing scores of people. Many of them are still waiting for health officials to investigate the long-term impacts of the gas leak and demanding to close the massive facility.

The winner will also need to deal with a long-awaited cleanup of the Santa Susana Field Laboratory. Residents of the neighboring communities are demanding full cleanup of the former rocket-testing site.

Meanwhile, the Porter Ranch area is undergoing a construction boom, with thousands of units expected for the area while current residents complain about lack of infrastructure and schools. The Porter Ranch Community School officials say the facility is filled close to capacity.

— Carlos Amador, a self-described, long-time human rights and civil rights advocate with a foundation of “progressive values of inclusivity, fairness and hard work.” In 2012 he worked on a national campaign calling for the cessation of deportations of undocumented children.

— Jay Beeber, executive director of Safer Streets LA, a traffic-safety advocacy group, and vice president of the North Hills West Neighborhood Council. Beeber said he would work to lower Department of Water and Power bills and mitigate environmental threats.

— Annie Eunwoo Cho, who said her main issues are addressing homelessness, a topic on which she said she would be “adaptable but relentless at solving,” as well as updating an emergency preparedness plan, helping older residents and reducing traffic congestion. She has been a 30-year resident of her district.

— Jeff Darr, a business owner, said he has resided in the district for decades and has been appointed by three mayors to city commissions. Daar said he has plans to create multiple task forces and work with groups of constituents. He said his main issues are public safety, reducing homelessness and working on ethics policies.

— Charles Sean Dinse, an LAPD senior lead officer, running on a platform of “reinforcing collapsing infrastructure to prevent systems from failing.” He said he wants to improve public safety by educating children while also creating more government transparency.

— Frank Ferry, who served on the Santa Clarita City Council for 16 years. He said wants to bring change to the City Council in response to ethics concerns, while also working to increase the size of the police force and improving public safety.

— Jack Kayajian, who has worked at City Hall and in nonprofit organizations in various capacities, including the Mayor’s Office and the CityAttorney’s Office. Kayajian’s primary issue is to improve transparency and ethics at City Hall, shorten public safety response times and help local schools.

— Stella Maloyan, who said she helped build the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy and co-founded Women for a New Los Angeles. Some of her main issues include closing the gender pay gap as well as addressing homelessness and building more affordable housing.– Raji Rab, who said he is a seasoned aviator and educator and hopes to address issues relating to equality and environmental sustainability. Rab also wants to reduce financial penalties assessed on residents by the city.

— Brandon Saario, who said he is a lifelong resident of the San Fernando Valley and opened a business there. Saario’s campaign is focused on public safety and opposing new taxes. He said he would also work to end Los Angeles’ perceived status as a sanctuary city and work to eliminate homelessness.

— Navaraj Singh, who is an immigrant who said he came to the United States and worked to open 15 restaurants and created more than 1,000 jobs. He said he would also fight to end the city’s perception as being a sanctuary city, and identified homelessness as one of his top issues.

— Josh Yeager is a professional public affairs and community engagement professional. Yeager said he wants to improve the city’s economic strength and bring more transparency to City Hall.

— David Balen, a write-in candidate, is the vice president at Stewart Title Company of California and spent seven years on the Porter Ranch Community School Booster Board.

Olga Grigoryants is a multimedia reporter focusing on urban development, business and culture. She also supports the paper in its watchdog role to hold San Fernando Valley power players accountable and loves digging for public records. After studying writing in Moscow, she moved to Los Angeles in 2007 and has called it home ever since. She earned her master’s degree from the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, and has published articles with Reuters, Bloomberg, the Los Angeles Business Journal and LA Weekly. Along the way, she picked up awards from the Los Angeles Press Club and Society of Professional Journalists. If you want to get on her bright side, she loves a perfect cup of matcha latte.

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